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Legal marijuana nurtures modern-day gold rush

Jack Healy and Kirk Johnson

Denver: Like the glint of gold or rumours of oil in ages past, the advent of legal, recreational marijuana is beginning to reshape economies in Colorado and Washington state.

Marijuana is beckoning thousands of entrepreneurs and workers, investors and hucksters from across the country, each looking to cash in on a rapidly changing industry that offers hefty portions of both promise and peril. Start-up companies are floating sales pitches for marijuana delivery services or apps to investors. This year, hundreds of people seeking jobs lined up for blocks in downtown Denver, resumes in hand, for an industry-sponsored marijuana job fair. Some have travelled far, leaving security jobs in Ohio or software jobs in Indiana to move for marijuana, hoping the industry has room for them.

"It's the wild, wild west," said Tom Bollich, who moved from the world of mobile apps in Silicon Valley to become the chief executive of a company based in Boulder, Colorado, that builds climate systems for marijuana growers.

With marijuana now legal for medical use in 23 states and full legalisation heading to the ballot in Alaska and Oregon, the size of the non-criminal marijuana industry is expected to grow to about $US2.6 billion ($2.7 billion) this year from about $US1.5 billion last year, according to estimates by the ArcView Group, a marijuana research and investment firm in San Francisco.

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Investors say there have been as many as 80 marijuana-related companies trading publicly, though federal securities regulators have suspended trading in five of them over the past few months and have warned that some of these new firms might be fraudulent efforts to dupe investors.

In Colorado's first six months of retail sales, the number of people licensed to work with the plant has grown to 11,289 this month - slightly less than the number of auto mechanics in the state - from about 6000. (The state points out that not all those people may be actively working in the marijuana industry.) Since the first dozen stores opened in January, Colorado has issued licenses for more than 200 recreational marijuana shops.

In Washington state, where recreational sales kicked off last week, the retail industry is much smaller, with as few as eight stores open so far. But the ambitions are boundless, with more than 300 licenses under state review and an outdoor growing season that could make Washington a national powerhouse of production if legalisation spreads.